Striking hand tools



July 17, 1956 G. w. YEARLEY STRIKING HAND-TOOLS Filed Aug. 2, 1954Elli/Ill? Ill/l/ V r/A/ /AW ATTORNEYS.

United States Patent '0 2,754,863 STRIKING HAND TOOLS George W. Yearley,Geneva, Ohio, assignor to The True Tamper Corporation, Cleveland, Ohio,a corporation of io Application August 2, 1954, Serial No. 447,353 3Claims. (Cl. 145-29) My invention relates to striking hand-tools andrelates more particularly to hammers, hand axes and the like.

It is an object of my invention to provide an improved assembly of arigid transversely extending striking head and a thin-walled tubularmetallic handle, the said tool and handle being cooperatively soconstructed that they may be substantially permanently united in animproved manner.

Another object of my invention is to provide a handtool comprising astriking head and a thin-walled tubular metallic handle having an endportion rigidly affixed to said head in such a manner as to provide apermanent assembly of the head and handle.

Another object of my invention is to provide a striking hand-tool havinga thin-walled tubular metallic handle, the said handle being so formedas towithstand strains of the kinds encountered in the use of the toolsto which said handle is secured, and the handle being so constructed asto give it great strength and superior shockabsorption qualities.

Another object of my invention is to provide improved handles of thetype referred to wherein the reactive force resulting from impact of thehead with a workpiece, may be dampened at the grip end of the tool.

Still another object of my invention is to provide an improved grip fora tubular metallic handle for a striking head of a hand-tool which willbe effective under all conditions of use and wherein the head willremain securely locked in press-fit engagement with a handle endportion.

Still another object of my invention is to provide an improved tubularmetallic handle of the type referred to which may be securely locked intightly fitted engagement within a socket of the striking head of thetool wherefor separation of the head and handle may be prevented in harduse, over an extended period of use.

Another object of my invention is to provide a tool which will be lightin weight, highly durable in use, and economical in cost of manufacture.

Other objects of my invention and the invention itself will become morereadily apparent by reference to the description which follows, in whichdescription reference made to the appended drawings, in which drawings:

Fig. 1 is a sectional view through a hand tool of my invention showing aportion of the head of the hammer in section and the remainder in solidlines and all of the handle being shown in section;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the said hammer having the improved handle ofmy invention embodied therein showing at dotted lines a nail with whichthe hammer is in contact, the direction of the force of the impact beingindicated in a broken line;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged view of the handle taken from the line 3-3 of Fig.1;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged view of the handle, taken from the line 44 of Fig.1;

Fig. 5 is a side view of the hammer handle of my invention, an upperportion thereof being broken away.

The improved tool of my invention comprises a tubular handle 10, whichmay be of any preferred size and preferably constructed of tubular steelor other metal having equivalent properties, is shown in Fig. 1 asapplied to a preferably steel hammer head 11 by press-fitting it intothe head socket 16', and has a rubber grip portion 14 extending over asubstantial portion of the free end 15 of the handle. It is to beunderstood however that the handle may be used in conjunction with axes,hatchets, or other forms of hand tools.

The improved tubular metallic handle 10 has an upper nearly cylindricalend portion 16, which is of circular cross-sectional form throughout itslength andwhile being nearly cylindrical, is slightly tapered throughoutits length to adapt it to be press-fitted within a correspondinglydimensioned socket 16'. Proceeding downwardly from the said upper handleend portion 16 the lateral sides of the tubular handle in the region 17,are preferably progressively more and more flattened until they becomeof the general flattened form shown at 18 in Fig. 4, and in the sameregion 17 the fore and aft sides are relatively divergent. The portionof the handle 18 which proceeds from the general region of the handleportion 17 to the bottom end of the handle tube, preferably includingthe portion which is covered by the hand grip supporting portions 14, ispreferably of the cross-sectional tubular form shown in Fig. 4,throughout its length.

The circular cross-sectional form of the slightly tapered upper end 16of the handle is susceptible of being pressfitted into the handle socket16', whose outer surfaces are correspondingly of like slightly tapereddimensions, provides an exceedingly tight fit as said handle upper endis forced into the socket, and is subjected to great comprehensivestress exerted uniformly over its entire engaged outer surface. The formof the socket prevents the metal of the tube from crumpling or beingdistorted from true cross-sectional form and the stress imposed upon theend portion of the handle tube is so directed as to tend to reduce thetube diameters, which is exceedingly strongly resisted because of thecircular form of the top cross-sections and because of the uniformity ofthe degree of compressive stresses exerted on the tube end in allportions of its relatively telescoped length.

While I have illustrated a decorative band 19 secured about the neck ofthe handle, the same may be eliminated, if desired, as it is a merelydecorative expedient. I have further found that it is not essential thatpin means, such as shown at 13, be employed as the improved handle of myinvention may be so press-fitted into engagement with the hammer head asto render additional securing means unnecessary.

The shape of the hammer head may further be of different designs insofaras it affords a socket into which the upper handle end 16 may bepress-fitted. In the present structure the tool head is provided with avery slightly tapered socket opening 16'.

As indicated in Fig. 2 upon impact of the improved tool of my inventionwith the work the line of force illustrated by broken lines first meetsthe tapered progressively flattened neck portion 17 and is transmittedthereupon to the flattened section 18 of the handle. It has been foundthat the elliptical contour of the section 18 has substantially greaterresistance to the forces to which it is exposed than a circular sectionsuch as shown in 16, and hence the handle by virtue of its formationabsorbs the shock of the blow to a greater extent, and is stronger thanprior art handles with which I am familiar and the grip isshock-absorbent and therefore more comfortable in use, and preventsslippage of the users hand.

The grip covering material of my invention is preferably of rubberflocking and of such size and shape to tightly envelop the lower gripportion 15 of the handle of my invention and to snugly and securelymaintain itself in its encased portion, as shown in Figs. 1, 2, and S.

It will be obvious, as indicated hereinbefore, that numerous andextensive departures, such as size, etc. may be made in the embodimentherein illustrated and described, without departing from the spirit ofmy invention or the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. A striking hand-tool of the general class described comprising ametal head and a handle, said head having a foremost striking face andbeing provided with a relatively medially disposed downwardly directedsocket, said handle being of a single length of a thin-walledcircumferentially continuous tube of steel, or like resilient metal, andcomprises an upper section of its length having outer surfaces which areconvexly circumferentially rounded in all portions of the length of saidsurfaces and are longitudinally tapered at a slight rate of taper, saidupper tube section being telescoped into said head socket, said handletube comprising a relatively lower section of its length, a weightinghand-cushion cover, said lower section affording a support for saidweighting cushion cover applied to at least the lower portion of saidlower tube section wherein the overall fore-and-aft extent of thecovered lower portions is considerably in excess of its relativelytransverse dimensions, said tube having a relatively intermediatesection mergingly joined at its ends to the relatively confronting endportions of said relatively upper and lower tube sections, said headsocket being provided with interior longitudinally extending side wallsurfaces which are engageable by said outer surfaces of said upper tubesection, and are of that concavely rounded cross-sectional form which iscomplementary to the circumferentially convex wall surfaces of saidupper tube section which are engaged thereby, said socket surfaces beingupwardly convergent at a rate closely corresponding to the rate of taperof said relatively engaged surfaces of said upper tube section, theengaged Walls of said tube end section being circumferentiallyresiliently compressed and exerting a substantially high degree ofretractive expanding pressure against the relatively interfitted saidsocket walls to hold said tube end section in tight Wedging frictionalengagement with said socket walls.

2. The striking hand-tool substantially as set forth in claim 1,characterized by the recited relatively engaged surfaces of said uppertube section and of said socket walls being circular on every horizontalline of crosssection.

3. The striking hand-tool substantially as set forth in claim 1, andbeing further characterized by the fore-andaft dimension of the recitedlower tube section being at least double that of its relativelytransverse dimension.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS894,155 Layton July 21, 1908 1,089,043 Burgess Mar. 3, 1914 1,158,032Eastman Oct. 26, 1915 2,692,626 Martin Oct. 26, 1954

